HyperCard - Similar Systems

Similar Systems

Other companies offered their own versions. Four products are currently available which offer HyperCard-like functionality:

• HyperNext is a software development system that uses many ideas from HyperCard and can create both standalone applications and stacks that run on the freeware Hypernext Player. HyperNext is available for Mac OS X & Mac OS 9, and Windows XP & Vista.
• HyperStudio, one of the first HyperCard clones, is, as of 2009, currently developed and published by Software MacKiev.
• LiveCode, published by RunRev, expands greatly on HyperCard's feature set and offers color and a GUI toolkit which can be deployed on many popular platforms (IOS, Android, Classic Macintosh system software, Mac OS X, Windows 98 through 7, and Linux/Unix). LiveCode directly imports existing HyperCard stacks and provides a migration path for stacks still in use.
• SuperCard being the first HyperCard clone, is similar to HyperCard, but with many additional features such as: full color support, pixel and vector graphics, a full GUI toolkit, and support for many modern Mac OS X features. It can create both standalone applications and projects that run on the freeware SuperCard Player. SuperCard can also convert existing HyperCard stacks into SuperCard projects. It runs only on Macs.

Past products included:

• HyperPad from Brightbill-Roberts was a clone of HyperCard but written for DOS. It made use of ASCII linedrawing to create the graphics of cards and buttons.
• Plus was a product similar to HyperCard for Windows and Macintosh.
• Asymetrix's Windows application ToolBook resembled HyperCard, and later included an external converter to read HyperCard stacks (the first was a third-party product from Heizer software).
• Oracle purchased Plus and created a cross-platform version as OracleCard, later renamed Oracle Media Objects, used as a 4GL for database access.
• TileStack was an attempt to create a web based version of HyperCard that is compatible with the original HyperCard files. The site closed down January 24, 2011.

In addition, many of the basic concepts of the original system were later re-used in other forms. Apple built their system-wide scripting engine AppleScript on a language similar to HyperTalk; it is often used for DTP workflow automation needs. In the 1990s FaceSpan provided a third-party graphical interface, and continues to do so today. AppleScript also has a native graphical programming front-end called Automator, released with Mac OS X 10.4, codenamed Tiger, in April 2005. One of HyperCard's strengths was its handling of multimedia, and many multimedia systems like Macromedia Authorware and Macromedia Director are based on concepts originating in HyperCard.

AppWare, originally known as Serius Developer, is sometimes seen to be similar to HyperCard, as they were both rapid application development systems. AppWare was sold in the early 90s and worked on both Windows and Mac systems.